We've all seen the impressive statistics that reveal the
Internet is growing by leaps and bounds. But now that we know usage
is widespread, exactly who is out there cruising the Internet and
how and why are they using it?

A recent survey conducted by Find/SVP, a research, advisory and
business intelligence firm located in New York City, reveals that
more adults are online than ever before. Some 27.7 million U.S.
adults are Internet users, comprising 31.3 percent of the total
online community. Of these adults, 59 percent use the Net to send
e-mail every day, up from 47 percent in 1995. The number of adult
users who surf the Web daily has also grown, from 36 percent in
1995 to 49 percent this year.

Another significant finding of the survey shows a gradual
shrinking of the gender imbalance that's existed in the online
world for years. Just two years ago, 70 percent of adult users were
men. But in the past year, 40 percent of those who began using the
Internet were women.

The survey results show that by and large, local content, such
as regional news, weather, business and entertainment-related
information, is what attracts people to the Internet. And it
appears small businesses are the biggest group going online to find
local content. According to the survey, 60 percent of
small-business users searched for local information online during a
three-month period (February through April, 1997), while only 53
percent of big-business users did so.

Thomas Miller, vice president of the Emerging Technologies
Research Group at Find/SVP and the survey's director, says the
link between small businesses and local information has to do with
entrepreneurs' strong neighborhood ties. "Because their
territory is typically close to home, small businesses are
interested in local business news, new services in town, and events
that directly affect their business," he explains.

Moreover, Miller believes that small businesses are placing more
stock in the Internet than others. "Many small-business users
see the Internet as a way to increase their marketing power, reduce
costs and do more things at once, so they're using it to find
ways to do business smarter," says Miller.

But while the Internet is all business for some, personal use
still significantly outpaces business use for many. The survey
found that 88 percent of adult users go online to send e-mail to
friends and conduct other personal matters, while only 56 percent
use it for business.

A Closer Look

By now, you've probably heard all the hype about the Net
PC--maybe you've even seen one. In fact, Hewlett Packard,
Compaq and several other vendors should have released their
versions of the Net PC by the time you read this.

There are a few key differences between Net PCs and traditional
PCs: Net PCs lack expansion slots or drives for CD-ROMs and floppy
disks, and their cases are sealed so they can't be tampered
with (although there are some exceptions). They're also
designed to connect to a network and be managed remotely by a
systems administrator.

But while these and other features were intended to make Net PCs
cheaper, smaller and easier to manage than traditional desktop
machines, industry insiders are now pointing out that this
isn't necessarily the case--leading some to question the real
difference between the two. "Net PCs have all the major
characteristics of the PC, like memory and hard drives, so
they're actually not much cheaper," says Roger Kay, senior
research analyst with International Data Corp., an information
technology research firm in Framingham, Massachusetts. What's
more, Kay says many models aren't smaller nor do they have any
additional features that make them easier to manage.

With the benefits still unclear, particularly when it comes to
small business, most industry analysts are recommending a
wait-and-see approach.